The present invention generally relates to equipment for the floor-care industry, particularly to floor scrubbers, more particularly to floor scrubbers that the operator can ride upon, and specifically to floor scrubbers including unique provisions for dampening the vibrations caused by the machine moving over a rough surface.
A floor scrubber is a commonly used piece of equipment in the floor-care industry. The machine is generally comprised of a tank to hold cleaning solution, a scrub system to agitate the solution on the floor surface in order to loosen dirt, a vacuum squeegee system to pick up the dirty solution, and a tank to contain the dirty solution. The larger floor scrubbers are usually equipped with a traction drive system to propel the machine across the floor. Typically, to eliminate the requirement for extension chords and as floor scrubbers are typically utilized indoors such that air quality must not be compromised, floor scrubbers are often battery powered.
In use, the floor scrubber is used to scrub aisles, hallways, and the like, and to scrub close to objects. Therefore, the floor scrubber is used on a variety of floors, such as smooth tile or concrete, ceramic tile, or rough concrete, so it is advantageous both from the standpoint of operator and machine, as well as the floor itself, to provide a means of dampening the vibrations caused by the machine moving over a rough surface. Current means for providing dampening in floor scrubbers has been utilizing cushion tires. However, cushion tires have a lower load rating than a noncushion tire for a given size, so the tire size must be substantially increased. This necessitates a less compact machine, causing potential maneuvering difficulties. Alternately, spring caster wheels, which provide a degree of suspension, have been utilized for dampening in floor scrubbers. These spring casters, however, are very expensive, and in many cases are not economically feasible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,838 discloses elastomeric isolator mounts between a truck section of its frame and its upper assembly. Such mounts have been highly effective in dampening the vibrations caused by the floor scrubber moving over a rough surface.
However, a need continues to exist for improved methods of providing dampening of the vibrations caused by floor-care equipment moving over rough surfaces.